Navy Missile Hits Satellite, Pentagon Says

No Confirmation It Ruptured Tank Containing Toxic Fuel

In this picture provided by the U.S. Navy, Fire Controlman 2nd Class John Whitby, from San Leandro, Calif., operates the radar system control in the combat information center during a ballistic missile defense drill Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008 aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii.
(Mc1 Michael D, Kennedy, Usn - AP)

In this Nov. 6, 2007 picture provided by the U.S. Navy, a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is launched from Pearl Harbor-based guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie as part of a Missile Defense Agency test in the Pacific Ocean. The government issued notices to aviators and mariners to remain clear of a section of the Pacific beginning at 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 indicating the first window of opportunity to launch an SM-3 missile from the USS Lake Erie, in an effort to hit a crippled U.S. spy satellite.
(AP)

In this Dec. 11, 2003 picture provided by the U.S. Navy, a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is launched from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie in Kauai, Hawaii as part of the Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) test against medium range ballistic missiles.
(AP)

In this Nov 17, 2005 picture provided by the U.S. Navy, a Standard Missile Three (SM-3) is launched from the vertical launch system aboard the Pearl Harbor-based Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie, during a joint Missile Defense Agency/U.S. Navy test in the Pacific Ocean.
(AP)

In this Nov. 21, 2002 picture provided by the U.S. Navy, an Aries ballistic missile target is seen through the infrared seeker of the developmental Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Kinetic Warhead moments before intercept at an altitude of approximately 500,000 feet.
(AP)

They said that a single SM-3 missile fired from the USS Lake Erie hit the satellite at 10:26 p.m. Eastern time. The missile struck the dead satellite about 150 miles above Earth as it traveled in orbit at more than 17,000 mph.

Military officials had hoped to rupture the satellite's fuel tank to prevent 1,000 pounds of hydrazine from crashing to Earth, a situation they depicted as potentially hazardous for people on the ground. It was unclear last night whether the missile hit was able to break up the fuel tank, but Pentagon officials said they hope to determine that within 24 hours.

A defense official said last night that the military believes it got a "pretty solid" direct hit on the satellite.

Before last night's intercept, some experts had expressed doubts about the seriousness of the risk and questioned whether the shot was an excuse to perform an anti-satellite test that many people around the world found controversial. Skeptics in the arms-control community have speculated that the administration chose to undertake the shoot-down partly to test missile defense technology.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and satellite tracker, said after the shoot-down that he had not heard any reports of debris spotting but that "I know people are on the lookout." He said that around midnight the debris was probably over Australia, but that it would be over Canada 30 minutes later.

"Due to the relatively low altitude of the satellite at the time of the engagement, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately," the Pentagon said in a statement. "Nearly all of the debris will burn up on reentry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days."

Pentagon officials said earlier that while the military has been able to precisely track the satellite in orbit, shooting it down was a daunting challenge, with the actual window of opportunity for a successful shot open for only about 30 seconds.

President Bush made the initial decision to shoot down the satellite at the urging of his national security team, which said that the rocket fuel posed a very small but real risk to people on Earth. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who is traveling abroad, made the final decision about when to shoot.

In steps taken in coordination with the Defense Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out a health advisory yesterday that warns that those who breathe the rocket fuel can suffer convulsions, tremors or seizures. The administration also mobilized what it called six "joint interagency task forces" nationwide to reach the site of any satellite debris.

"There's only a small chance the hydrazine will land in a populated area or cause injury or death, but there's still a chance that it could," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. "The United States has a chance to mitigate that risk or possibly eliminate it. We have this capability and can reduce the risk to human life on this planet, and that's why we're doing it."

Scientists, arms-control advocates and others said the shoot-down was based on questionable modeling by the government of the risks to human health and was a danger to the future peaceful use of space.